Saturday U Program Feb. 8 at Sheridan College

January 31, 2014

Area residents have the opportunity to go back to college
for a day, with three professors from the University of Wyoming and Sheridan
College lecturing Saturday, Feb. 8, in Sheridan for the spring term of Saturday
U -- UW’s free one-day college education program.

Comparative psychology in the 21st century; landscape photographs
in the 19th century West; and waterfowl management, conservation and hunting
are topics that will be discussed at Sheridan College’s C-TEL. The program is
free and open to the public.

The half-day of college classes and discussion begins with
refreshments at 8:30 a.m., followed by a welcoming address at 8:45 a.m. The
guest lectures begin at 9 a.m.

In its sixth year, Saturday U is a collaborative program
that connects popular UW professors with lifelong learners. Offered six times a
year -- twice each in Jackson, Gillette and Sheridan -- Saturday U is sponsored
by the university, the UW Foundation and Wyoming Humanities Council, and is
presented locally by Sheridan College.

Participants may attend one, two or all three lectures in
Sheridan, plus the final luncheon and roundtable discussion at 12:30 p.m. The
program is free and open to the public.

Listed below are program topic descriptions and UW and
Sheridan College representatives lecturing:

9 a.m. -- “The Thinking Animal: A Look at Comparative
Psychology in the 21st Century,” Rachel Kristiansen, Sheridan College
Department of Humanities/Social Science. Do animals think? Do some animals
think like humans, at least a little bit? “If so, what can studying these
animals reveal about how humans think?” Kristiansen asks.

She will explore these questions and will describe how
animals perceive their world and how they learn from it by examining the ways
they use tools, count and communicate. Her lecture delves into the new field of
animal psychology and its future benefits.

10:15-11:15 a.m. -- “Making it Home: Landscape Photographs
in the 19th Century West,” Rachel Sailor, UW Department of Art.
Photographs of the Old West fill archives and special collections across
America, but they are often overlooked outside the region where they were
taken, Sailor says.

“These photographs can tell much more than the details of a
town or homestead; they reveal that the camera was a settlement tool and that
people used photographs to capture a sense of their place and of themselves
within it,” she adds.

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. -- “The Future of Waterfowl
Management, Conservation and Hunting,” Benjamin Rashford, UW Department of
Agricultural and Applied Economics. Waterfowl management and conservation in
America is a success story of the North American wildlife conservation model --
a globally unique model that manages wildlife as a public resource, using
science and largely funded by hunters, Rashford says. Since 1846, hunters have
played a critical role in developing and financing nearly every major waterfowl
management and conservation initiative.

“But, can this continue?” he asks. “Complex forces, from
demographic shifts and agricultural policy, to economics and climate change,
cast an increasingly dark shadow over the future of waterfowl conservation.”

The spring Saturday U term continues with programs in
Jackson March 8 and in Gillette March 29.